mezzaluna angle

[Alan]

Hey guys.  I did a search for this on both Google and here on WE site, but found little, other than what it is.

I’ve a repeat customer who this time included a mezzaluna for me to sharpen.  She’s a pretty young thing, and an aspiring chef.  At this time she has her own part time catering service.  Anyway, she asked if I could sharpen it.  I told her I was pretty sure it would fit onto my machine, which it does.

This blade, of course, is used on a cutting board wood or plastic, dicing herbs, spices, or veggies into small pieces.

I presume it makes contact with the cutting board 100% of the time, as it is rocked back and fourth, thus dulling the blade much faster than usual.  I suspect I would place an angle on it perhaps 24 or greater to provide for sharpness longevity?

Thanks if you have any knowledge or tips with one of these.

 

Alan

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[dima]

Any particular problem with the original sharpening angle?

[Alan]

Well, it’s been sharpened before, so no telling what the original angle was.  I can certainly keep the current angle, but I don’t know that it is optimum for the use of this blade.

Alan

[dima]

Then you probably need to start with soliciting input from the owner. Does she like how it performs now? Does the blade get dull quicker than anticipated? And so on and so forth. Also, how hard is the steel? This bit is important.

And, in most cases, you can contact the manufacturer, if she preferred the original angle. More often than not they tend to be helpful.

[Organic]

That’s pretty interesting. Please post pictures when you have it finished.

[tcmeyer]

I’m pretty sure that you have to consider that this knife won’t be used in a slicing manner, but rather in what was called a “burst” cut.  More like push-cutting telephone books by down force.  This would mean that the edge will see much higher compression forces as it contacts the cutting board surface.

We have a pizza cutter which actually has a rounded edge.  It works better than a sharp edge because it “bursts” through the pizza, pushing the pizza slices apart, so the cheese isn’t as likely to melt back together.

So I vote for a higher angle – maybe 25 to 30 degrees.  The thinner the blade, the higher the angle.

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Alan, dulledge

[Alan]

Analogy of pizza cutter is spot on.  Not slicing, but pushing downward to separate.

I’m going to put a high angle on it, 25-30 degrees.  There a several videos on Youtube showing it in action.  It is supposed to be one of the most ancient cutters there is.   Definitely an unusual blade shape.

Alan

1 user thanked author for this post.

tcmeyer

[Gregg776]

The type of steel and its hardness would be a factor in the longevity of the edge; a few light strokes with a file can tell a lot about the material you are trying to sharpen.

I have good friend that makes pizza for a private Italian club and I sharpen the pizza cutter for him in exchange for pizza.  It is a big blade of fairly soft stainless about like the dollar store cheapo knives for hardness.  I have discovered that a convex edge like you would put on an axe lasts the longest.  It gets used a lot like an axe so I guess there are no surprises in my conclusion.  I smooth the sides out with a buffing wheel and then add about a 30 degree final edge by hand with 400 diamond (wider than a micro bevel).  This allows him to easily wipe off the blade if it gets a build up of cheese but it still has enough bite to grab onto other ingredients.  My friend likes the result and I get a big fresh pizza for about 15 minutes work; win-win.

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M1rrorEdge, dulledge, Alan

[M1rrorEdge]

Not sure if you saw this article when you where conducting your research.  I found it very informative and love the history on this stuff.  The angle referenced in the article is 15 degrees (Ouch).  I guess they are saying it’s as sharp as a standard kitchen knife.  I agree with the above comments.  It is really up to the customer and how they intend to use it.  Most customers don’t care about the angle itself and only want it to “work like it used to”.  What this means to me is a dent free uniformed Apex at a angle that is durable and effective for the customers task.

http://www.slowfoodandhandforgedtools.com.au/knives.html

Eddie Kinlen
M1rror Edge Sharpening Service, LLC
+1(682)777-1622

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tcmeyer

[Author]

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